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Objective.
Tyrants Issue 31. "Occupied Territory"- Part 8- "Objective." '''Front cover- '''on the front cover stands the Tyrant's latest foe, the mysterious energy fluxing black masked man, with his palms raised up, one hand slightly in the front of the other, the same with his legs, as he directs white circles of energy from his hands. In the foreground, Kaan'Qsst is on his knees, trying to resist him. OLD VILLAIN, NEW IDENTITY is placed across the bottom of the cover. The issue starts showing the three Tyrants from behind, as the golden hemisphere of energy shines over the city in the distance. "What ''is ''that?" Dark Magician asks. "I assume, either the Titans, or Blitzkrieg's response to them. Deal with our new threat..." he points to the black masked man. "I... will deal with the Mega Heroes. Before Glub erupts out of Icarus's body... though it is resilient... I assume it has its limits." Icarus is doubled over, convulsing, as Glub's partially liquidated form partially flows out of one of his ears. Parry stabs at Icarus; though doesn't move with any blur of superhuman speed, she still fights with impeccable skill, as this time she rams her blade into Icarus's body's guts. The comic cuts to behind the black-masked man as he watches the fight. Narration (the box is a black background with white lettering)- "The one with the immunity my powers looks like he has little time. That will be useful. And the cyborg alien is crippled. If I can keep inverting his nanites weapons systems against him, I should be able to take him down. It wouldn't work against ordinary nanites, but these ones seem to be more complex, generating more energy. But then they seem to be like Wrench's more complex, capable of forming advanced weapon systems." He looks to the Dark Magician above. "But that one could be more problematic. The Magician... with something of a wardrobe change." The comic zooms in on the man's face covering mask. "He will be a particular pleasure to take down, but with him flying, I can't hit them both at once." He looks to the unconscious Shockosaurus. "And if Kaan'Qsst approaches me, if can easily crush my bones to powder. Can't make this about some vendetta. But if I deal with the alien, then this false Magician will bombard me." He looks over to the Razorback, and then to the end spike of a spine stuck in one of the Dark Magician's eyes. "And though this beast had some luck, judging by the others" he looks at the dinosaur bodies, some dead, some unconscious, some just ash "I can't expect to rely on it for defence." The comic zooms in on the man. "Anyone would think you were trying to kill me, Blitzkrieg." The comic zooms in on Icarus. Narration (Icarus) "Something... inside me... from what Kaan'Qsst says, the green one. His species. The shape-shifter. Very well." He tucks his arms tightly across his chest. His body burns brightly like a furnace. "This puppet body of mine has never burned in my fires, so if I direct them inwards, I should have success. It should at least grant me reprieve from this monster bursting out of my skull. I will ''not ''die again." The comic cuts back to the mystery man, as he sees Icarus's entire body burn bright orange. Narration (Mystery man)- "Damn, if he burns out Glub, then thats another one of these new Tyrants I will have to deal with. From what I remember about that ridiculous Mega Hero, he should be able to regenerate the damage, but even a moment's relieve from him could make this Icarus attack me. Damn, I shouldn't have gone on the offensive again. I should have readied some kind of defence. Could have cancelled out a majority of their attacks." Glub's body, or at least the trickle that can be seen of the ooze he has become, doesn't burn, but smoke does come from it. Narration- "But was it really me that iniated the attack, or was that an impulse from Blitzkrieg. Damn, I don't even know what are my own actions anymore. If only Wrench's ploy had succeeded. Where I so many times I had failed. But no, he only somehow returned Blitzkrieg to live." Icarus flails about, tearing at Glub, but to no avail, he cannot burn him out. Narration- "And here I am, just some puppet, just one white blood cell in one single body, repelling invaders, thats what we have become. But it must be worst for these self-titled heroes. I used to hate them, but even I would not wish this punishment on them. At least if I kill with these new powers, it won't be as disgusting as what Blitzkrieg forces ''them ''to do. But then, Blitzkrieg has shown some bizarre respect for me." Dark Magician floats forward, slowly, casting his shadow across the adversary. "So, do you have some fancy, clever witticism of a name to give me, before I turn you into a patch of ash on the ground. Any mercy you'd like to plead for, family you'd like me to cherish and raise in your absence?" "Null", the man says. "Sorry, was that French?" The comic flashes back to show a young, brown haired man in a lab coat, shaking his fist up at the sky, back turned to the reader, as he watches several Reichdroids flie into the air carrying a massive hi-tech cannon. The 1960s Team Titan appear. The Magician, the heroic one, gestures at the cannon, surrounding it with a golden energy field, as it turns to water. The scientist screams "Nooooooo!" Narration- "Ironic, considering the role he played in the man I became. The terrible man." The comic shows the back of his head as his looks up at the Dark Magician, eyes ablaze. Narration- "And now here floats the dark reflection of the other man who callously cast me on the road of anger and frustration. Anger and frustration that led to much darker things. "I said you may call me Null!" the man shouts. "As in Nullifier? Interesting choice of name." "That is the purpose. Now bring your death." "Ohhhhhhh, I will!" says Dark Magician. Narration- "Should have prepared a defence. Damn you, damn you. Who? Blitzkrieg? This Magician? Or myself? I suppose I am already damned." The comic flashes back to a similar costume, accept, it possesses antennae, and has a pair of insectile wings, simply for show on the back, and a H on the belt. The man wearing the costumes pours some clear liquid into a water treatment facility. Narration- "I damned myself long ago. Now it seems my sins will finally be paid. I doubt they will allow me to die quickly. Should have focussed on him. Damn. Everything he has his energy he... emanates it. He ''is ''energy. Blinding, if I ''truly ''see him. To think what I have become." The comic cuts to show none other than Doctor Graham Stevens, back in the 90s, when he was in his fifties, working on several fuming chemical concoctions. Narration- "Me, the man who spent so long time crusading against the powers. Only to discover I have been one all along." Stevens take a syringe with glowing green liquid in it and injects it into his arm. Narration- "Surge either gives power to those without, or enhances what people have already. I created it, the chemical to give super powers. To create Nullifier. To take them away. And when Blitzkrieg forces me to enhance myself with Surge, what do I recieve?" The comic shows him as he is now, under the mask, a man in his 70s, though still in good shape, even though his face is heavily wrinkled, and his eyes sunken. He is in his costume with the mask off, raising up a hand, a white energy flares around it. Narration- "The power to either overload energy signatures or remove them entirely. Too much coincidence for this to be the random result of Surge upon my body. And overloading was Surge's original purpose." The comic flashbacks to him in Titan Bluffs, in the laboratory, watched over by the Mosh's. Narration- "It seemed beneficial at first, but it eventually overloaded and killed the subject. Only after refinement under the Titan's direction, after some repentance, was it refined to a more stable form. And now I possess these powers myself... internally. My past obsession has become a reality." In the present, Dark Magician's shadow is cast fully over him, his skin exposed across most of his legs, mostly of the trousers on the costume melted away. Narration- "I must have been a mutant all this time. I thought myself a genius, but all these miracles I created... some subtle latent understanding. Like my daughter and granddaughter before me. But I never saw the way they did, so inhumanly, I never realised. So pressured by my hatred that I was." "Any more last words?", says Dark Magician. Narration- "If I was in his position, I would attacked already. But then he is a Magician, He needs to gloat. But then he is injured. Heavily." The comic shows Dark Magician through Null's eyes, still black, but everywhere there is a hole, a white hole. Black energy seeps away from his form more heavily in this view. Of the force field around Dark Magician the holes are many and obvious. Narration- "He seems to be leaking so much energy I believe he is stalling... finding it difficult to free enough of himself for an attack." "You forgot about the dinosaur." The razorback fires another fussilade of spikes at Dark Magician. The spikes mash the force field to pieces and five spines imbed in Dark Magician's chest as he falls to the ground. Narration- "I underestimated my remaining ally. Perhaps I can win this. But do I want to? Not that these are heroes I am fighting. Though they are fighting against Blitzkrieg. And I never agreed with the capes before. I suppose everything has changed. And yet, here I am fighting them again. A puppet. If only I could be free from Blitzkrieg. But then what? What would I do with these powers? The Titan are no better than they were. What Blitzkrieg did... its a response. It always has been. Wrench made the right move. So close, to balance." Kaan'Qsst looks over to Null, then to Icarus's plight. Narration- "He is weighing up the threat. The ones who felled an ally, and the ones doing so. Either way, he cannot defeat us all. No. Such bravado is what always ends those who would oppose the Titans. I am no fool super hero... but what ''am ''I?" Kaan'Qsst fuses his hands once again into a sonic generator. He gives Null a pointed look, before turning to Icarus. "I assume you can absorb sonic energy as any other?" Kaan'Qsst asks. Icarus convulses, eyes watering. "I will assume you nodded. And if I destroy your internal organs, then I apologise." Kaan'Qsst directs a cone of energy at Icarus, which also envelops Parry, and of course, Glub. Glub's body bubbles and froths, and small parts fall off, but he won't dislodge from Icarus. "He regenerates too quickly. With every inch of progress, the ceullar matter is already regrowing. I assume thats how he survives nanite invasion." Narration- "Of course, nanites should kill Vor. Thats how the planetoid, Terraform was destroyed." The comic flashes back to Blitzkrieg, in his previous nano-form, running through the inside of a green planetoid creature, melting away parts with claw slashes, and Gunslinger slitting his wrists and releasing silvery blood over a large pulsating spherical organ. Narration- "Some form of violently allergic reaction, I assume, one Glub ignores to his regenerative capacity. That must be intensely painful. Not so long ago, that thought of a super hero's misery might have brought me pleasure. Not so now, though I can't say I feel much nowadays. Blitzkrieg took away my need to feel, and I had little before that, working like some unwanted rat in Waterstone's laboratories." Kaan'Qsst continues to focus the sonic beam, as Parry clutches her chest, and collapses. Narration- "And what of this Kaan'Qsst? Does he feel pain as well? Do those machines eat his body, or does his absorption of them save him from such pain? He seems a brutal sort. Pain may motivate him. As it has always motivated me. It just a different kind of pain. But either way..." Null strides towards his opponents. "... We are men defined by pain. Though unusual men we may be." "Tell me, Kaan'Qsst, before neurological imperative requires me to continue my attack, what are your reasons for opposing Blitzkrieg?" Null says. "He takes your freedom. I would return it." "Why would you care?" "I do not care for your species anymore than any other. But there is an enemy coming that I would fight. I cannot fight alone." Kaan'Qsst turns to face Null, though his weapon arm lowers a little. "Then why not join with Blitzkrieg and persuade him to aid you with his own city?" "Do I speak to him now." Kaan'Qsst seems wary. "No. His attentions are... a little distracted right now. But my nanites still insists I carry out his last encoded orders." He raises his hands. "But they do not forbid me to talk." "Then I would tell you that you know that Blitzkrieg's only concept of unity is slavery. I wish no such thing. Your planet's superhuman population will fight and defeat the Kraan. But only if united." "With nanites you could do that. And you have them yourself. I see them... or rather the signals they send. Preparing for my attack, no doubt." Kaan'Qsst lowers one arm to the floor and bends his knees, ready to try and dodge the incoming attack. "Yes", is his simple reply. "Then you would still make slaves of us." "No. Soldiers. You would live your lives, until I needed you to fight the Kraan. After that, your full freedom would be yours." Null hands pulsate brighter. "We would die for you!" "Only the weak", Kaan'Qsst snorts. "Must we have one Tyrant or another? At least Wrench's way, we could have been free." "Powerless. Free to die." Kaan'Qsst leaps. "As are we all!" Null unleashes the torrent of energy. End of issue.